The Light Through the Leaves(133)

“It’s one of the most amazing miracles ever,” Ellis said.

Raven returned the kiss to Ellis’s cheek. The first kiss her daughter had given her. Ellis looked out at the field to keep from crying.

Together, they watched three crows flap over the field. When one of the crows called, Raven said, “Fish crow, right?”

“Yes. I love that sound.”

“So do I.”

Raven pushed up her sleeve to look at her watch. “Jackie’s plane landed in Gainesville a half hour ago.”

“We’d better get up to the house.”

“I can’t believe this day is finally here,” Raven said. “This week is going to be wild.”

“Wild” was an understatement. Soon seven people would arrive to spend their December holiday with them. The guesthouse would be packed with River, Jasper, Huck, and Reece in the downstairs room and Jonah and Ryan in the loft bedroom. They would all have to share one bathroom. There’d been lots of jokes about peeing in the woods.

The main house would be less crowded with five people and two bathrooms: Jackie with Raven, Jackie’s mother in the master bedroom, and Keith and Ellis sleeping on the screened porch. Ellis assumed most of the barn guests would be at the main house during the day or walking the trails. The weather was supposed to be warm.

Keith walked down the trail to meet them. “I was wondering when you’d come up. They’ll be here soon. Come look at what we did.”

When they arrived at the house, Ellis understood why Keith had sent them down to the field. He, River, and Max had brought pots of native pines, hollies, and magnolias down from the nursery. They’d put them on the porch and around the house, lacing miniature white lights in their branches. They’d strung the biggest loblolly pine from the nursery with lights and red ribbons and placed it in the living room.

“This is beautiful,” Ellis said. “Who bought the lights and ribbons?”

“I did,” Keith said.

“I should have known. You always wanted a Christmas tree.”

“And now we’re both happy. The tree is native and didn’t have to die. I’m going to plant that one on our property—as a memory of our first holiday with the kids.”

With the kids. She kissed him and whispered, “You’re adorably sentimental, you know that?”

“I don’t mind wearing the adorably sentimental pants in this family.”

“Speaking of pants, you’d better change,” she said, noting how muddy he was from moving the plants. River and Max were, too. Ellis put her hand on her heart to tell Max how much she loved the decorations. She squeezed River’s hand and said, “Thank you,” and for once he didn’t make a sarcastic joke. He was getting more comfortable with being loved.

The rental car with Jackie and Huck, their mother, and Reece arrived twenty minutes later. When Reece saw Raven, he said, “She looks like a balloon that’s about to pop. How could you do this to her, Jackie?”

“Do you want me to draw you a few diagrams?” Jackie said.

“Please no. Your PDA was always graphic enough.”

“The baby might have been conceived on your birthday,” Raven told Reece. “Remember the party we had?”

“I remember,” he said. “But too much information. You’re making me blush in front of all these people I don’t know.”

“Yeah, right,” Huck said. “It would take a lot more than that to embarrass you.”

Ellis and Rose greeted each other with a tight hug. Ellis had gotten to know Jackie and his mother during their two visits in autumn. Ellis had felt immediate kinship with Rose. They had a lot in common: divorce, rural living, sons close in age, veganism, reverence for the natural world, and, of course, Raven and their coming grandchild.

In October, during their first walk alone together, Rose had abruptly begun crying. “I should have known,” she wept. “I saw something wasn’t right with Raven and her mother.”

“You can’t take any of the blame for what Audrey Lind did,” Ellis said.

Her tears kept coming. “I should have called the police. There were times I almost did.”

“What would the police have done when Raven showed no signs of abuse?”

“I know. That was why I never called. I had no proof of anything bad going on, just a gut feeling. But still . . . I wish I’d done something.”

“You did do something,” Ellis said. “You gave my daughter love. You helped her feel less isolated. You gave her the courage to ask for school. She’s told me that you, your sons, and Reece changed her life.”

Rose’s hazel eyes had gleamed. “She said that?”

“In my most hopeful moments after the abduction, I dreamed of a compassionate person like you helping her. It’s as if those hopes took wing, found her, and steered her to your family. I’ll never be able to express how grateful I am . . .”

She and Rose had embraced, both crying, and from that moment they’d been as close as friends who’d known each other for many years.

And during this holiday, Ellis would get to know the other two boys who had changed her daughter’s life. Already, she could tell Huck and Reece would be as easy to like as Jackie.

After the guests were shown their rooms, Raven and Jackie disappeared into the woods. No one tried to find them when a late lunch was put out. They had a lot to talk about.